Do we really want revival? Do we want our prayers answered? Do we understand or know what fasting is or is about? Are we doers of The Word or just hearers only? Or do we just boast about what we don’t do when we fast? Look at this scripture and you will find the answers to these questions. You will see what a true fast is. And you will see how to have revival, which is the manifest presence of God in our lives, and when it comes, it will be undeniable that God is with us.
Isaiah 58:1-14
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?
Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. (They do not have the spirit of fasting—they continue on with daily duties.) Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. (They boast and compare themselves among themselves and say, “Look at me. I’m more spiritual then you are.”)
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” (The question has an obvious tone—No!! Obedience is better than sacrifice! His fast that He chooses will tear down evil strongholds, take away heavy burdens [His yoke is easy and burden is light], set those that are bound free, and break every yoke that is pulling them in the wrong direction.)
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? (See vs. 7-14 for the answer. This is the fast! It’s what we do, not what we don’t do, that is considered a fast acceptable to God. We must obey Him! He said whatever we do to others we have done it to him.)
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. (Then our light will shine and people will see Christ in us, see our good works and glorify God. His Spirit will follow with signs and wonders confirming His Word and guarding us and His ministry with His glory.)
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. (He will answer our prayers). If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and 1 will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Then we will see revival!!)
I pray that God will burn this word into our hearts, cause us to walk in obedience, and revive us from our sleep, and visit us with His presence.
Byron Benefield
9521 Broadus Rd.
Moss Point, MS 39562
